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Santa Rosa council adopts updated recreation and parks fee schedule to boost cost recovery
Summary
The City Council approved a resolution to revise recreation and parks fees, raising select user and membership rates and delegating seasonal program fee-setting authority to the director of housing and community services to improve cost recovery while maintaining need-based subsidies.
The Santa Rosa City Council voted to revise the city—s recreation and parks fee schedule and delegate authority to set seasonal program fees to the director of housing and community services, saying the changes will modestly raise revenue while preserving access for residents with needs-based assistance.
Deputy Recreation Division Director Jeff Tibbetts and administrative staff Jackie Hammond presented the proposal, explaining the changes cover community center rentals, park permits, sports field rentals, Howarth Park admissions and boat rentals, aquatics memberships and senior center memberships. "We are proposing the new fee schedule take effect 01/01/2026," Hammond said, noting the timing would allow notification to user groups and inclusion in the spring-summer activity guide.
City staff said the division—s cost recovery for direct program costs currently is about 48% and would rise to around 54% under the combined fee and program changes; total division cost recovery would increase from about 40% to 45%. Tibbetts and Hammond described how simplifying and consolidating more than a hundred legacy line items for rooms and park permits into a smaller number of categories will improve transparency, customer experience, and internal data accuracy for future planning.
Key adjustments cited in the presentation included a consolidated resident/nonresident add-on (a $10 per hour nonresident surcharge or 10% per-day with a $25 minimum), a raise in the youth league per-player fee from $7 to $10 per season, a $1 increase in Howarth Park K-Land admission (staff estimate: roughly 75,000 K-Land tickets sold annually, weather-dependent), and higher membership prices for aquatics (individual monthly pass proposed from $20 to $50) and the senior center (individual from $24 to $50; couple from $40 to $80). Staff emphasized memberships are optional and that need-based subsidy and scholarship programs are available to preserve access.
Council members asked about bookkeeping and customer access; staff said rental and registration operations are centralized at the Findlay Community Center and online at santarosarec.com, and that a few on-site signs with QR codes exist and could be expanded. Councilmember McDonald sought clarity about the meaning of "direct" versus "division" costs; staff explained direct costs include program supervisors and position-specific expenses while division costs include shared costs such as IT and utilities.
Public comment included praise and several practical requests. A Roseland resident, Duane DeWitt, urged the city to pursue grant-funded HAWK crossings near schools as part of safety efforts tied to parks and permits.
Councilmember Benuelos moved the resolution; Councilmember Fleming seconded. The clerk recorded six affirmative votes (Rogers, Okrepkie, McDonald, Fleming, Ben Wheelos, Mayor Mark Stapp), with Vice Mayor Alvarez absent. The motion carried and the council adopted the updated fee schedule, effective Jan. 1, 2026.
Councilmembers and staff said they will monitor participation and equity after implementation and that the existing needs-based subsidy will be available to mitigate access barriers.
The resolution delegates seasonal program fee-setting authority to the director of housing and community services so staff can align program prices with actual staffing, supply and instructor costs on a timely, seasonal basis.
